Magnolia Pictures has released the first movie trailer for Max Winkler‘s feature directorial debut Ceremony. I saw the film at the Toronto Film Festival, where I wrote the following: “Ceremony feels like the first movie from a filmmaker we need to watch — a fantastic feature debut. His screenplay is filled with complex, interesting and engrossing characters, and his film has fantastic performances across the board.”

Ceremony stars the very underrated Michael Angarano (Almost Famous, Snow Angels) as an aspiring children’s book author named Sam Davis, who convinces his former best friend Marshall (played by the also underrated Reece Thompson of Rocket Science and Assassination of a High School President) to spend a weekend with him to re-establish their friendship. But Sam has secret ulterior motives — he plans to infiltrate and break-up a wedding ceremony being held at a big Gatsby-esque-sized beach house in Long Island because he is in love with the bride, an older woman named Zoe (played by Uma Thurman).

Watch it now embedded after the jump. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below.

The South by Southwest Film Festival has announced their features lineup for the 2011’s Festival, which will take place March 11th to the 19th in Austin Texas. Read the full press release after the jump.

Magnolia Pictures has released a movie poster for Max Winkler‘s feature directorial debut Ceremony, which premiered at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. Check it out right now after the jump. I heard the movie trailer will hit in the next couple days — so stay tuned for that.

Risky Business has learned that Magnolia Pictures has acquired the US distribution rights to Max Winkler‘s feature directorial debut Ceremony, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. This means that the film will be shown theatrically and will likely have a day-and-date video on demand availability on nationwide cable.

Yesterday, I attended the premiere of Max Winkler‘s feature directorial debut Ceremony at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The 27-year old USC film school graduate and son of television actor Henry Winkler (Fonzie on Happy Days) is probably best known as the director of the popular Clark and Michael web series which starred Michael Cera and Clark Duke. In 2005, he co-wrote and co-directed a short film titled The King of Central Park, which screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, Malibu International Film Festival and Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The short is wonderfully awkward, sometimes Wes Anderson-like, especially in the music, use of slow motion and symmetrical framing.

You could definitely see he has a unique voice and sense of comedy, which led to a few writing assignments: He co-wrote The Adventurer’s Handbook with Jonah Hill and Matt Spicer, which SNL Digital Shorts/Hot Rod helmer Akiva Schaffer is attached to direct at Universal. He also co-wrote a football script, a big screen adaptation of the short story Whispers in Bedlam for Jason Reitman.

He has been trying to get a feature film off the ground for the past few years. He sold a Charlie Kaufman-esque script to Fox Searchlight titled The Ornate Anatomy of Living Things, about a “bookstore clerk living in Manhattan discovers a museum run by a strange old man that exists solely for the purpose of studying his life.” But for some reason or another, the project never went into production. He has instead decided to take the low budget approach and independently produced his debut feature.

More first looks up today, kicking off with a low-key photo showing Jesse Eisenberg and Aziz Ansari in action for 30 Minutes or Less. If the photos don’t thrill you, remember that the film is directed by Zombieland‘s Ruben Fleischer, and that Danny McBride is also in the mix as a criminal who forces Eisenberg to rob a bank with a bomb strapped to his chest. The script is funny and slightly savage, and I’m looking forward to this one. [Grand Rapids Press via GatW]

After the break, images of Uma Thurman and Michael Angarano in Ceremony, and of Sean Penn in This Must Be the Place. Read More »

Let’s start with the bad news. Jessica Alba is joining the cast of Little Fockers, as “an attractive pharmaceutical rep whose looks wreak havoc on male characters in the story.” The bad news isn’t Alba’s involvement, but that Little Fockers is still being made. But Universal needs a reliable earner, and this, to my great chagrin, probably fits the bill. When your parents ask who directed this comedic treasure while you’re watching it half-drunk on affordable wine after some future Thanksgiving meal, you can tell them it’s Paul Weitz, and that you read it here. [THR]